kalahari

Or maybe he didn't want to talk about Guns, because things between him and the band are not good right now. Maybe he is considering leaving. It isn't like he has no where to go (Soul Asylum, reunion of Replacements, solo records, etc.). It is a long shot reason, but given his silence it certainly can't be dismissed as a possibility.

Music can have a deep impact on your life, just like any great work of art. I think we've all had songs that mean a lot to us in our lives, whether they remind us of lost loves, people we miss, or great memories of where we were when we first heard them. And you don't have to be a fan of GNR to have one of their songs effect your life, as this email suggests. I remember when November Rain first came on the radio as a single, and friends of mine who didn't even like rock would stop what they were doing and say, "What IS that?" It didn't just wash over them like most music, which is white noise in the background while you are going through your life. It had an impact.

To me, that is the difference between good and great music. It is a good song, but I doubt 5 years from now anyone will be writing that "Slither" changed their life.

I wondered if this was actually Niven, but it is up on Metal Sludge, and I doubt they'd post it if they had any doubts about the legitmacy. Plus it is too well written to be the ravings of some idiotic poser.

I am sure he and Axl are not the best of friends, but he you can admire someone without getting along with him. Even when Slash has said negative things about Axl, you can always tell that he really respects his talent.

I had always been told Izzy and Axl were the main songwriting duo behind GNR. However I don't think you need Izzy to make a reunion. When you look at the Illusion albums, under each song, they list in parentheses who wrote it. The two best songs on the albums were both credited to Axl: November Rain and Estranged. Izzy was credited with 14 Years and Dust and Bones, etc. Well, those are precisely two of the songs on the Illusions that are "okay," but I could really do without. When I think of Guns, I think of sprawling epics, or raw, in your face rock. I'm not down with Izzy's whole Stones, bluesy shuffle vibe. That kind of stuff kind of aggravates me, actually. So I don't think I'd really miss that influence at all. Call me crazy.

Now let's picture what would happen if Guns did reunite. It would be like when you take back that really hot ex-girlfriend. At first you are really excited, and having sex with her all the time, and then after a while, you remember what a crazy f**king bitch she was. All I am saying is, there is a reason people break up and a reason bands break up, and if it happens once, it usually happens again.

I think something Dizzy Reed said in his interview spoke volumes. He said, "Every band has a leader. And Axl is our leader." I think when Slash and Duff were in the band, they could not admit that Axl was the leader. They wanted to be equal too, as far as leadership. Ego battles, etc. Or as Axl said another time, "everyone wanted the wheel." Everyone wanted control. Well there can only be one driver. Otherwise what do you get, some Eddie Van Halen vs. David Lee Roth type fiasco, the epic battle of gargantuan egos. And nothing gets done.

I imagine at first everyone would be really excited, and then a whole bunch of ideas would come out about the band's direction, and they all would get shot down, and the bickering would start, and it would just be hell, and Duff would probably start drinking again. That wouldn't be good because his pancreas would explode, which wouldn't be good.

As for the people that said "It's not a reunion unless you bring Adler back," look, I love Adler as much as any Guns fan. I think that SOBER, he was a better drummer than Sorum, and I prefer him. But the man has not been sober since the Carter administration. I mean, come on.

But ultimately, whether they would bicker or not, is beyond the point. It would never get that far. Why? One person. W. Axl Rose. Mr. Rose places a huge value on loyalty, and he can hold a grudge for longer than Kirstie Alley can hold water. There is no way on God's green earth that he is ever going to dismiss Tommy, Brain, and Robin, people who have been loyal to him for years, in favor of 3 people that turned their backs on him and then sued him and talked bad about him in the press. If we know anything about Axl, it is that he values loyalty extremely highly, and despises backstabbers. To quote the Princess Bride, it is "inconceivable," that he would ever dismiss his current colleagues in favor of the old ones. To him it would be like a dog going back to its vomit.

Hey, I would love to see it happen as much as anyone. I love the old band. Today I caught the tail end of the VH1 special on Guns, and seeing the old band up there just really made me miss them. But let's face it, Axl will never let that happen. The others I am SURE would come running. But he never will ask. Niven and anyone else would come running to manage them, too, but Axl is driving this bus, and there are no scheduled stops for freeloaders.

It is also pretty obvious Slash did say those things about Scott. Can you imagine playing behind him every night, and in the back of your mind, you are thinking, "Geez, I wish he was Axl." And you KNOW he thinks that. How could he not, there is no comparison ability wise. And I think the reason Scott's comments were so vitrolic and hateful toward Axl, is deep down he knows it, too. He knows he is not as good. And this enrages him. It all must make Uncle Axl chuckle. Or, as he once said, "I get misty just thinking about it."

By the way, that is definitely Brian May soloing on this song. Cool!

I realize music is subjective, but I seriously wonder if those people slagging this song, need their hearing checked. CAN'T YOU HEAR THE GREATNESS IN THIS?????????? Yeah, granted it needs lots of editing (that's why it's a demo), in particular it sounds like the bridge just got slapped in right after the first verse. But much like TWAT, this song is just stunning its potential.

And I am by no means an Axl sycophant, I thought a lot of songs on the Illusions weren't very good. But this song and TWAT, good grief these are going to be monsters.

When I read responses of "it's just okay," I almost want to wretch in disgust.

.....Just listen to it a few times in a row, people. The first time there is too much to take in, like with TWAT. Then about the 3rd listen you'll just say oh my holy god.

This album is going to change the modern music landscape, and I do not say that lightly.

Okay I know this might not be interesting to anyone, but it is close to midnight, I am bored, and I like to write.

I don't post here very much, but I have been a GNR fan since 1988 when I first heard them and suddenly stopped listening to all my Def Leppard albums. Like everyone else I've been faithfully waiting for them to put up a follow up to the Illusions. I can still remember on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 1991, waiting in the "Face the Music" record store, asking the clerk, "where the hell are the albums?" There were about 3 of us there asking him the same thing, and he pointed at a mail truck that had just pulled up outside and said, "They're right in there!" They brought them in and I snatched UYI I & II, took them back to my dorm, and listened straight through for several hours.

Since then, I've been waiting for their follow-up (I don't count The Spaghetti Incident as it was all covers). I can remember often, when I was in a supermarket and bored, going over to the magazine section and while I was there, checking out the latest issue of Metal Edge or Hit Parader, in hopes of finding some info. on a new GNR album. PEOPLE, THIS WAS IN 1996!!! LOL. Yes, it's been a long, hard, patient road for us true blue guns fans. When I heard Slash quit I thought that was the end. Then when I heard Axl was trying to rebuild something great, I have always been following his progress over the years, hoping he succeeds.

Anyway, that is the background on me, to show my comments come from someone with a lot of knowledge about the band, and that I'm not someone who has only heard Greatest Hits. With that in mind, here's what I think (drumroll, LOL).........

I think anyone who thinks these leaks are a disappointment, is insane. LOL, okay I know it's music so it is subjective, therefore it obviously can be a disappointment. But just from my own perspective, these songs are even greater than I had hoped for. The man has not been just sitting in his studio playing tiddly winks all these years, people. Even as rough demos, these songs have "it." As people often say, you can't describe what "it" is, you just know "it" when you hear it.

I guess if I could describe one thing similar about the 3 songs, they all have momentum. They are alive, and dammit they are going somewhere. This is some very cool creative stuff. I actually feel that about these 3 songs more than I do about either Maddy or The Blues, both of which I like very much.

As for "Axl's new sound," if you want to call it that, I think it is beautiful. I love the old songs as much as anyone, but if we had 3 versions of "It's So Easy," it would seem rather forced and false to me. Those songs were written when Axl was sleeping in doorways and collecting spare change to get biscuits and gravy at Denny's, not when he was in his 40's and living in Malibu with a large black man named Earl.

Whatever faults Axl Rose has, the man has always been uncompromisingly, unflinchingly honest. What he is feeling comes out exactly in his songs, whether it is love, hate, prejudice, rage, kindness, or sadness. That is also why I find the rumor of him "purposely leaking the tracks," to be ludicrous. Axl Rose is not the kind of person who is going to subversively leak tracks to the public, in the vain hope that he will be more popular. This guy has resisted the hunger of the public for his music for over a DECADE, just because he didn't believe in releasing anything unless it was 100% exactly what he envisioned. Do you really think he would want to leak a DEMO, the very definition of an unfinished product, to the public? Preposterous.

As to other objections: Axl's voice. I have laughed at this one for years. People saying, "His voice has gotten worse, it sounded too 'clear' during the '02 tour!" Give me a break. I always knew that was BS, a person's voice gets BETTER as they get older, not worse. Any great singer can tell you that. If a person's voice was great at 25, it will be even better and fuller at 45, that is just a fact (unless they horrifically abuse it). So it's no surprise to me his voice sounds great. I would guess his songwriting abilities have improved as well (as the tracks would bear out).

I also think it is funny when people say, "These tracks aren't as good as on Use Your Illusion." See, us old people remember when those CDs first came out, and people were slagging on the UYI tracks back then, the same way some are on these demos right now. Fast forward 15 years, and suddenly the UYI tracks are revered. Don't get me wrong I love the UYI albums, I just think it's kind of funny because I remember people complaining the same way 15 years ago. "The songs are too different, it doesn't sound like Appetite, etc., etc." Now songs like Estranged are considered sacro-sanct. But in 1991, all you heard was "I wish there were more Welcome to the Jungles on here, what is all this weird sh*t."

It's hard to describe what you feel about music, about it's quality. But you just know it when you hear it. When I listen to TWAT, yes it is very rough and needs editing, but if you can't hear the genius potential in that thing, you have the musical acumen of a spider monkey. I mean, come on. It baffles me that some people can't hear that.

Do I think these songs could have been written with Slash? Maybe if they tied him up somewhere while they worked on the songs. I mean, I love Slash, but he is perfect for Appetite-style rock, not this stuff. The man is a genius of bluesy, hard rock, but I can't see him ever signing off on this stuff unless Earl was sitting on him. If that is the case, I am glad he left. I get a lot more excited about this new stuff, then the prospect of hearing Velvet Revolver with Axl singing the lyrics.

As for IRS, that is actually the song of the 3 I am least excited about, perhaps because it is the most traditional. I think it is a very good song and would fit in great with any of the rockers on the Illusions, it's just that I am more excited about the stuff I am hearing on TWAT and Better. At first I did not think much of TWAT, but then after I listened to it a few times, I was at work, and started hearing it in my head, over and over again. I thought damn, why do I keep hearing this? The sh*t was growing on me, right away. Now I listen to it every day, and its potential just looms more and more each time I listen to it. Anyone else feel that way?

Something I don't get is the people who complain about the intro to Better. I LOVE the intro to better. I think that is one of the best parts of the song. Don't change a thing, Axl! To me, Better is the kind of song I just want to get into my convertible with, and zoom off down the street listening to it full blast, with the top down. Too bad I don't have a convertible, but if I did, dammit, I'd be listening to Better in it! And just think, we haven't even heard the whole song!

To people who say, "their isn't a single," I would say Better would make a great one, that's my opinion anyway. I think the public, non-GNR fans would really get into it. And, I believe there are at least 6 more songs we haven't heard that will be just as good or better.

These new songs just have me stoked, this is the best news out of GNR land I've had since 1994, people!!!! In a way it is funny, we had absolutely NOTHING for years after years, and now all of a sudden, boom boom boom, we have 3 leaks, announcements of tour dates, multiple Axl Rose sightings, etc. It is all a little too much to take! I feel like a diabetic in a chocolate factory.

Anyway, excuse the rambling, I just wanted to express some things I hadn't seen a lot of other people say.

It's pretty common knowledge that a singer's voice gets better as they get older, not worse. The only exceptions are if they abuse it with cigarettes and alcohol, then it can get worse. Since Axl actually stopped with the cigs and alcohol quite a while ago, I doubt his voice has gotten any worse. It probably has actually gotten better with age.

Now, what is "better"? Well, when you are drinking and smoking a lot, your vocal chords are irritated and your singing is going to sound rougher and more hoarse or raspy. That may fit the paradise city style of singing better, where he was raspy on the original. With songs like The Blues and November Rain, it is better to have a clearer voice without the rasp.

Maybe during his concerts, he can sing all the slow songs first while his voice is clear, then take an hour break, smoke a pack of cigs, drink a six pack, scream his lungs out in the dressing room for 5 minutes, and then come back and sing all the fast songs.

;-)